[Play Right Away!] Exciting Recreation Games Recommended for Elementary School Students
Lively, fun recreation games that get elementary school kids excited! Whether in the classroom or the gym, there are plenty of activities that bring smiles to everyone’s faces.
Here, we’ll introduce fun ideas ranging from team-versus-team cooperative games and brain-teasing hiragana quizzes to active ball tag—everything from no-equipment options to games you can enjoy with simple prep.
These games help deepen friendships and reveal new sides of each other, so be sure to enjoy your time with friends through play!
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Unique/variety-style, funny hype-up games (1–10)
Finding the good points
As you play repeatedly, you’ll naturally start to find them! Here are some ideas for discovering good qualities.
When someone tells you your strengths, it feels incredibly uplifting, doesn’t it? Plus, when you share your friends’ good points, it makes them happy and feels great for you too! It’s a wonderful idea that boosts self-esteem, so I highly recommend it.
When writing down good qualities, it can help to specify things like how the person might be in the future or a specific episode that made you happy.
Feel free to adapt and incorporate these ideas in your own way.
Stop at exactly 10 seconds! Game
A game where you count 10 seconds in your head and compete to see how close you can get to exactly 10 seconds on a stopwatch.
It’s a simple game of counting time and pressing a button, so even elementary school kids can play easily.
It’ll be even more fun if you add rules like giving a snack to the person closest to 10 seconds.
It works well with two players or with a large group counting all at once.
You can play it anywhere, indoors or outdoors, anytime.
It’s very safe, so give this game a try with children from lower to upper elementary grades.
Fruits Basket
Fruit Basket is a game that anyone can play, from kids to adults.
It’s a classic that everyone played in childhood.
First, choose one person to be “it.” Everyone else sits on chairs arranged in a circle around them.
Before starting, divide the players into groups using fruit names.
When the person who is “it” calls out a group name—for example, “Banana”—everyone in the Banana group stands up and tries to find a new seat.
The person left without a seat becomes the next “it.” When “Fruit Basket” is called, everyone moves.
Unique/variety show-style, laugh-inducing hype-up games (11–20)
It fell, it fell.
Ochita ochita is a game with simple rules that you can enjoy without any props.
The leader says, “It fell, it fell—what fell?” and everyone repeats it together.
The leader then calls out a word like “apple,” “thunder,” or “vase,” and everyone must quickly do the matching gesture: protect your head with both hands for apple, crouch for thunder, dodge to the side for vase, and so on.
Anyone who makes a mistake or reacts too slowly loses.
It gets even more exciting if the leader adds feints or speeds up the tempo.
Because it tests concentration and quick reflexes, it’s perfect for class recreation or recess.
Same words, same actions! Game
It’s a game where everyone jumps at the same time following the team leader’s instructions.
At the leader’s cue, “Say the same, do the same, right!” everyone jumps to the right.
It really sparks elementary school kids’ playful spirit.
Sometimes the leader switches it up by making the chant and the action opposite.
For example, if they say, “Say the same, do the opposite, right!” you say “right” but jump to the left! It takes concentration, but it’s exciting when everyone gets it right without any mistakes.
How many people can fit? Game
Spread out a newspaper and compete to see how many people can stand on it.
If there are many participants, you may connect and spread out two sheets, for example.
If everyone is on the paper and you can count to 10, you clear the challenge.
If anyone steps outside the newspaper before then, you’re out.
Okonomiyaki Game
@kidschallengeclub♬ dear future husband – 여울
My friend transformed into okonomiyaki! Let me introduce the Okonomiyaki Game.
Work in pairs: one person plays the okonomiyaki, and the other is the cook.
The okonomiyaki player lies face down and tries to hold their position so they don’t get flipped over.
The cook’s job is to flip the okonomiyaki by adjusting force and angle.
Set it up in a space with mats, and adding a time limit can make it more fun.
Give it a try!